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Ever tried to hammer frets in a phenolic resin fretboard?

Bass-wise I've only bought Luminlay inlays from Japan, but have bought a fair bit of vintage camera gear from there with very positive experiences every time; they seem to take communication and customer satisfaction very seriously

Sometimes you need a middleman as many Japanese shops are simply not prepared to deal with foreign sales. The two instruments I bought in person came from shops that would never have considered selling to me had I not been there in person with a native Japanese speaker to help out. As others have said Ishibashi are great, but they have people specifically there to deal with enquiries and sales outside of Japan. The only disadvantage is that as a foreign buyer you will need to deal with them through email and due to time differences and the fact that the instruments are also be on display in one of their shops, you can sometimes lose out to a local sale that occurs between receiving and replying to your enquiry.

Hi Neepheid Thank you very much for replying and for sharing your experiences. I've taken a quick look at Ishibashi web page (thank you for the link) and will take a closer look tonight. Definitely worth checking out. As for the 'Middle Men' personal shopper types thank you for flagging these characters up. On ebay in particular their adverts with different prices and juggled around photos are a bit of red flag are a bit of a giveaway so me thinks I'll steer clear of these ones. Just don't want the risk (almost as bad as other stuff advertised on evilbay where the seller claims 'UK based seller' but 2-3 weeks, or more, after ordering the goods eventually arrive and you know damn well they've come from abroad - usually PRC

aren't the fretless fretlines just epoxy filled grooves waiting for frets to be hammered in?

Hi Sean Thank you very much for your reply especially for the link. I've just taken a quick look and will investigate a bit closer tonight. Cheers

Too many of those slab body Ps have been sold through Music Ground/the Harrisons at one time or another, so you have to consider the possibility that not all of them are as they should be. To be fair, the one at Bass Bros looked mostly correct - the neck did look suspiciously modern - I don't recall seeing birdseye maple that figured on any vintage Fender before, but it has the right tuners, and is obviously a maple cap fingerboard (no birdseye on it), as it should be. I couldn't quite see from the pictures if it was the correct veneer fingerboard, and not a slab, which would make it a fake, but I would probably trust Bass Bros' judgement there. The rest of those basses, the body and the pickguard at least would not be hard to fake (again not saying this is the case here in fairness to Bass Bros) While Spitfire and Lavaguard come close, it's impossible to source tort that looks exactly like the real stuff these days. Black plastic however... And a swamp ash slab body with a blonde finish? A lot easier to do than a vintage sunburst (again, not about this specific bass as the ad does state it's a refin already). I've seen some of these basses for sale with tort guards - there was one at ATB a while ago - these would probably be the safer bet if you really wanted to buy one. https://www.atbguitars.com/products/1967-fender-precision-bass-slab-body-blonde-hsc Slab body '66 Precisions are probably a bit like '58-60 Les Paul bursts - more survivors around than were originally built.

Hi BigRedx Thank you very much for your comprehensive reply. A good read and sharing a lot of useful info, especially regarding beware of the 'Middlemen'. Seeing basses repeatedly advertised by the same seller at different prices and juggling the photos around has always made me feel more than a bit suspicious of these adverts on ebay and I'm guessing these are, more often than not, the middle men at play. As little as I know about Japanese commercial culture I'd always hoped that there more so than anywhere else in the business World they still trade with honour and honesty probably more so than most other Countries. That said, there will of course always be a few rotten apples in the barrel. Cheers

Okay everhone. Update time. There is a complete, 100% fix that sorts the issue completely that I've found. If I tune the bass down a half step to Bb the issue goes away. It's not a solution for me as I'd go raving mad trying to work out what I'm doing, but it's good to know it's an option. This is what Ryan at Dingwall had to say: Thanks for reaching out. In my experience dead spots can be minimized but not necessarily eliminated without, in my opinion, unacceptable compromise. To remove them completely the resonant frequency of the neck needs to be octaves above that of the speaking range of the instrument. Full carbon fibre necks work great for this but the tone for some people can be a deal breaker. We also had great luck using a clamp at the headstock. The added mass from the clamp helped a bit for sure. The major difference came from the off-centredness of the clamp, this all but eliminated the dead spots by controlling the torsional vibrations in the neck. I've heard some people have had success over the years with the Fatfinger, but if adding mass to the headstock is the goal the first thing I would try is a heavier set of tuners. I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any more questions. I asked what tuners he'd say worked and he told me "Gotoh's are a drop in, the index screws are located in the same place. Look at the standard keys, not the reso-lites." However... on recommendation from someone else I had a go at adjusting the truss rod. I'd done it as soon as I noticed the dead spot but only gave it a quarter turn so this morning I tried giving it another quarter turn which is about as much as I want for the action I like (there is still a bit of relief in the neck) and while it's not totally elimiated the dead spot, now if you didn't know where it was and I handed it to you I'd challenge anyone other than a luthier to spot it. So, that's it. It'll do me and I'm not doing anything else for the time being. I'll see how it goes when I change the strings next or if the neck needs adjustment as the seasons change or whatnot. Thanks to everyone for your input - I really appreciate your advice and support.

Is that mean that this neck can’t handle more than 17mm string spacing on the bridge? I want to make my custom 5 string bass with 19mm spacing, is it possible with this beck?

I had a 1964 P-Bass in Dakota Red, it looked (and played) wonderfully with its old whitish pickguard/scratchplate.

Welcome, you'll get loads of great advice here. I'd say pick an instrument you love to look at and play. It will encourage you to play more, you'll develop a way of getting a good sound out of it. This place is full of hints, suggestions and tips if something isnt working out. Jonny

Already lovely! 😍

Hi That's very useful info. Appreciate you replying. Thank you very much 👍

I have done it twice, once from Ishibashi - which was an excellent experience, prompt sending, well packaged, nice sturdy outer box which had no "speed holes" in it on arrival, and prompt communication throughout. Great pics on the website, what you see is what you get. I was delighted with the overall experience and will definitely use them again next time they have something I fancy. The other time was from a private seller on Reverb. Again, can't fault the experience - I appreciate that one transaction from one random person doesn't mean much on a statistical level, but I found a good 'un - great comms, packaged the bass well, and even put some keepsakes/nicknacks in with the bass which was cute and made me smile. So, that's two from two. But deffo, bigging up the Ishibashi here. I would be wary of these "personal shopper" types on ebay - you sometimes see the same bass with the same pics being listed for varying prices. I believe that is people speculatively listing stuff up they've seen in shops (I've seen Ishibashi's pics being nicked sometimes) and they're basically a go-between, and will list it for what the shop's selling it at plus whatever they reckon their expenses are. But if they've got great feedback, then I guess it's fine? I dunno, I think it's the fact that the same bass with the same pictures being listed multiple times by different ebay accounts that's putting me off, just feels a bit sus.

Holy moly that sure is a piece of wood, that's exactly the look/grain that I'm looking for in my build!